Alexander mitscheelich



NITED STATES ALEXANDER MITSOHERLICH, OF FREIBURG, BADEN, GERMANY.

MANUFACTURE OF FIBERS F WOOD FOR SPINNING PURPOSES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 388,991, datedSeptember 4, 1888.

Application filed September 6, 1886. Serial No. 212,837. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALEXANDER-MITsoHER- LICH, a subject of the King ofPrussia, residing at Freiburg, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Fibers ofWood for Spinning Purposes, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to produce a fiber from wood which can bespun.

The invention consists in the special process, hereinafter described andclaimed, for produclng a sort of pliable fiber, capable of being spunfrom wooden boards or strips.

The wood preferably used to carry out my invention is taken fromfir-trees, or it may be pine or the softer parts of larch. Thin boardsor laths free from knots, but of any desired width, are cut into stripsin the direction parallel with the grain, and are then boiled in aholler containing a solution of a chemical reagent, as, for instance, asolution of sulphurous acid or bisulphite. This boiling of the woodeffects disintegration of the same without requiring that the woodenstrips or boards should be reduced into very small pieces. After boil-1ng the wood it is dried in the open air or in specially-constructeddrying-rooms. By thus drying the product the fiber, which is originallyvery weak and tends to break at the slightest strain, becomescomparativelystrong and does not resume its very breakable condition onthe addition of water. The above described perfectly-dried masses wouldrequire for their reduction into separate fibers the employment ofconsiderable mechanical power, which, however, is completely avoided bysoftening the masses by saturating the same with water. The fibers havethen received the requisite strength and allow of a mechanicalseparation.

These operations are carried out as follows: The damp masses on theframe are transferred to a traveling endless cloth, which leads them toa pair of rollers, which may be plain or provided with corrugations inthe direction of their length, the ribs of the one roller being made togear into the recesses of the other one, whereby they effect asimultaneous strong bending and squeezing of the masses. The cutting ofthe material in passing through the corrugated rollers is avoided bycausing the endless cloth to pass over the lower roller and by placing acanvas covering around the upper roller. The pressed masses fall fromthese rollers onto a second endless cloth, which conveys them to asecond pair of rollers, from which they are conveyed to a third pair,and so on, they being preferably pressed in this way six times. Thisgeneral construction of apparatus is well known in the art of preparingfibers. By a continued treatment of the wood the fibers become at lengthso pliable and isolated from each other that they can be employeddirectly for coarse filaments. For obtaining a perfect isolation of thefibers, however,without material deterioration thereof, these operationsalone are not suitable, and their special purpose is to loosen thefibers in the transverse direction, so that in thefollowing operation athin long fiber may be obtained. For this purpose the boiled and pressedmasses are completely dried. After drying they are combed in thedirection parallel with the fibers by means of devices provided withpins or teeth, in a manner similar to the operations for combing flax,cotton, &c., but with the difference that the pins or teeth of theapparatus for the above purpose must be made very strong. The separationof the extractable matter from the fiber produced by boiling the gumsand soluble organic mat ter can be effected at any time. It is, however,preferably effected after the fiber has been spun into threads, 820.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, anddesire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The process herein described for preparing wood fiber for spinning,which consists in, first, boiling the wood in length in a chemicalsolution, as described, until the fibers have become loosened andseparated; secondly, toughening the fibers by drying and softening thesame in water, and thirdly, subjecting the toughened fibers to repeatedmechanical pinchings, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. The process herein described for preparing wood fiber for spinning,which consists in, first, boiling the Wood in lengths in a chemicalsolution, as described, until the fibers have becomeloosened andseparated; sec0ndly,tough- In testimony whereof I have signed my nameening the fibers by drying and softening the to this specification inthe presence of two subsame in water; thirdly, subjecting thetoughscribing witnesses. ened fibers to repeated mechanical pinchings,ALEXANDER MITSOHERLIGH. 5 and, fourthly, combing the toughened fibers\Vitnesses:

longitudinally to their filaments, substantially JEAN GRUND, as and forthe purpose described. ALVESTO S. HOGUE.

